IndyCar: Carpenter says there's no rush to add second car

Ed Carpenter will not rush to add a second car to his IndyCar team, despite the success it has enjoyed with its split oval/road course program so far this year.

Carpenter stepped back as full-time owner-driver at the end of 2013 to share his car with Mike Conway this year, with Conway driving on the road and street courses and Carpenter taking the wheel on ovals. The arrangement has already paid dividends, with Conway winning at Long Beach and Carpenter likewise in Texas last weekend, however the American says that he will only consider expanding when the environment is right.

"We'd love to go to a two-car team when we have the opportunity," he said. "But at the same time, we want to be able to grow at our own pace and do it in a way that's going to allow us to continue to do things the way we're doing them now, which we feel like is working.

"I wouldn't trade any one person on our team for any other person up and down pit lane. We've got a good group of people, and I think we're able to show that on track right now.

"It's a great team to be a part of. We have a lot of fun – and it's even more fun when you're winning."

ECR did run a second car for the Indy 500, with JR Hildebrand in the cockpit, and he is thought to be one of the leading candidates should Carpenter add a second car full-time.

Conway and Carpenter are counted separately in the drivers' championship and are currently placed 22nd and 23rd, respectively. A single driver with their combined points total would be placed seventh in the standings, one point behind Andretti's Carlos Munoz.